


it's but a speck of a world (under infinite suns)

by far2late



Series: ilomilo [14]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dream Team SMP Setting (Video Blogging RPF), Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arguing, Blood and Injury, Dark, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Enderman Hybrid Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Good Friend Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Heavy Angst, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Light Sadism, Loneliness, Malnutrition, Memory Loss, Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Pandora's Vault, Poor Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Prison, Protective Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Psychological Trauma, Ranboo Angst (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo Needs a Hug (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo-centric (Video Blogging RPF), Rape/Non-con Elements, Sad, Sad Ending, Sadism, Suicidal Thoughts, Torture, Waterboarding, Whipping, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 06:08:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28951707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/far2late/pseuds/far2late
Summary: "In the presence of Techno and Phil, however, it had been easy to pretend like he had fit in. Like he had been part of their trio for ages and he hadn’t just shown up out of nowhere. Techno and Phil didn’t treat him like an outsider, either, and it was this that had earned Ranboo’s loyalty, in the end, confusing as his morals were.All Ranboo really knew was that he would do just about anything for his neighbours if it was for the greater good, so it wasn’t a surprise that after a large misunderstanding and days of shifting blame and yelling and meetings and threats that Techno and Phil weren’t even aware of, he was in chains outside of the large Blackstone prison that Sam had constructed for the criminals of the server. Either that or whoever else he decided it would be for."orranboo's stay in pandora's vault is not a pleasant one.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo & Toby Smith | Tubbo (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF)
Series: ilomilo [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2095689
Comments: 102
Kudos: 1289
Collections: Completed stories I've read





	it's but a speck of a world (under infinite suns)

**Author's Note:**

> twt is far2early. be careful of tags, read them over carefully before u continue forward, stay safe
> 
> edit: renamed the work and added it to a new series. new part upcoming soon :)

The thing that Ranboo never really realized in his time staying with Techno and Phil was just how attached he had gotten to the two of them. 

It was easy to overlook it when they were neighbours, mostly because he had gotten used to latching onto people near him and giving them his attention should they need it. He did it with Fundy, with Tubbo, and now he had been repeating the same process with his war criminal-neighbours. It was certainly a change of pace, but one he barely even recognized in his usual behaviour. 

Ranboo didn’t realize he was in deep with Techno and Phil until he started picking up grass blocks unconsciously, in perfect cubes as he left them around their home. He hadn’t done it in front of anyone else. nor would he ever consider it, but it was easier to do things when it came to Techno and Phil’s presence. The two of them were fellow hybrids and they understood his quirks when they came out, not questioning them the same way that Tubbo and everyone else had. 

It was the same courtesy he gave Techno by not asking about the gold he constantly smelted into his weapons and armour, even if it was just to add a bit of a silver lining to it. The same way Ranboo never complained about the feathers that would be shed around the area in small little patches, usually rare in showing up. Ranboo had kept one of the longer ones, hiding it from Phil in an almost ashamed manner. 

Despite his fondness of his neighbours, he didn’t know if they would return the same sentiment for him. He had been in their lives for only a few weeks compared to the duos shared years together. It was something rare that they would trust someone now, apparently, so Ranboo knew not to expect too much. It was almost a parasocial relationship in the way he would act, if not for the fact that they were generally polite when they spoke to him. 

He was pretty sure he had earned Techno’s favour the time he had brought the man a Netherite axe he had constructed after he had lost his Axe of Peace. It wasn’t that close to the previous weapon, nor did the gold melt into the Netherite seamlessly the way that the piglin hybrid seemed to have mastered after his time making and using weapons of mass destruction. Ranboo was used to making weapons for smaller fights and duels rather than the ruthlessly efficient ones that Techno had become accustomed to since he had begun fighting. 

Despite the flaws that the weapon did have, Techno had taken it gladly, along with his later gift of a Netherite shovel that he had made when he had been bored as he and Phil went off to explore. It hadn’t bothered him, despite how he thought it probably should have. He wouldn’t blame the pair of them for wanting to leave and reminisce on older times when it had been just the two of them to rely on each other. It wasn’t something new for everyone on the server to have their respective partner in crime, save for Ranboo. 

It wasn’t something he had realized until recently, coming upon the realization as he worked on his basement and moved all his pets downstairs. It had taken him at least three pets to realize that he was compensating for something by collecting the soft and kind creatures and holding them close and dear to him. 

It was something painful to realize that everyone on the server had someone to rely on. Sam had Ant, Bad had Skeppy, Techno had Phil, Tommy had Tubbo, Dream had George, Eret had Puffy, Niki had Fundy, and so on. It seemed like it had been just him and Purpled who had no one, but even then, Purpled had friends back at Hypixel tournaments he had spent all his time at now. His lack of friends on the server was inconsequential. 

Ranboo had nowhere else to go, really. He had decided that Hypixel was too risky for him to be at now that he had notoriety from joining the lands he hadn’t even realized were too hard to get into, and his excursions there wouldn’t be very fun if he ever did decide to go back. That and he didn’t feel like changing his entire identity; it was hard enough to remember the life he already led and he wasn’t looking to make it more of a headache for him. 

It was a depressing realization to come to, really. The fact that he had been practically alone and that no one trusted him the way he had trusted them. Tubbo hadn’t trusted him, Niki hated him, Fundy just left him with painful memories he wished weren’t burned into his brain. Ghostbur hadn’t even been much fun to talk to, despite how the ghost had expressed how happy he had been to talk to the teen. It seemed temporary, really, considering he had disappeared not long after Tommy had come back from exile.

When Phil and Techno had come back from their trip later that day, he had resigned to go to bed before the two would ask him to come to dinner the way they usually hinted at. Ranboo didn’t think he could handle the reminder that he was lonelier than most on the server he had come onto with high hopes for a future of happiness. He had been a fool to assume he would have anything close to peace. 

In the presence of Techno and Phil, however, it had been easy to pretend like he had fit in. Like he had been part of their trio for ages and he hadn’t just shown up out of nowhere. Techno and Phil didn’t treat him like an outsider, either, and it was this that had earned Ranboo’s loyalty, in the end, confusing as his morals were. 

All Ranboo really knew was that he would do just about anything for his neighbours if it was for the greater good, so it wasn’t a surprise that after a large misunderstanding and days of shifting blame and yelling and meetings and threats that Techno and Phil weren’t even aware of, he was in chains outside of the large Blackstone prison that Sam had constructed for the criminals of the server. Either that or whoever else he decided it would be for. 

It was an intimidating build, Ranboo could admit. He could also say that he didn’t remember what he had taken the blame for to get himself trapped in there, but it wasn’t too much of a stretch to say that his fellow citizens of the server weren’t very pleased with him for it. Everything was bleary, in a way, though it was closer to the feeling of slowly sinking through quicksand on a drafty summer’s day. 

Ranboo stumbled as he was pushed forward by Dream, the terrifying man’s face hidden with a familiar mask made of porcelain. There were little stains of blood that dotted it that frightened him, but he didn’t dare admit it. Dream was just terrifying in general, and this had to have been the closest he had ever been to the man in person. The stories that preceded his reputation was something that he didn’t even want to think about, nor did he think that it would sit solidly in his conscious for a while. 

He could say that the full situation hadn’t set into his bones yet, that much was at least sure. He hadn’t registered in his mind that this prison would be his home for the next eight or so months, depending on how good his behaviour would be. Ranboo could faintly remember that Phil and Techno had been threatened with life in maximum security for what they had done, as well as that piling onto their past transgressions, so it was easy to just take the fall for whatever they had done. He vaguely remembered that it had something to do with Purpled’s UFO, Dream previously being close to the boy, but he didn’t remember what happened with it. 

Ranboo made his way through the second nether portal after Sam directed him in, Dream pushing him in with a tight grasp on his upper arm. The teen was at least glad that he was allowed to change into clothes that he would have preferred, taking one of the large hoodies that had been lying around Techno and Phil’s cabin as well as a pair of sweatpants that had no pockets. 

Sam’s face was hidden as well as he approached the man, a green-and-gold-plated gas mask covering his face with red lenses over the eyes. They were impossible to make eye contact through, and for that, Ranboo was thankful. The teen wasn’t spoken to at all before the excursion to the prison, so he was surprised when Sam spoke up, his warm tone replaced with a cold one that left no room for argument. 

“I’m going to need you to empty your inventory in the locker rooms,” He said, pointing down a hall as pistons clicked and opened it to an empty room. Ranboo nodded, shuffling in with chained arms before pausing for a moment, turning to face him slightly. 

“I, um- Can I get them off? I can’t, um, take off my armour, and stuff,” Ranboo asked, voice quivering as he spoke in a way he hadn’t realized showed that he was shaking. The teen wasn’t even aware of his own nerves until he spoke aloud, and suddenly, everything was much more real than it had previously been. The reality of the situation was dawning on him and it took all he had in him to hold back all his panic. Dream didn’t say a word, instead, turning to face Sam and tilt his head questioningly. 

Sam nodded at the question, moving to unlock the handcuffs that had been tightened around his wrists. The teen let out a shuddering breath, closing his eyes and taking a moment to calm down before emptying his inventory of everything he had and putting the locker key he had been given in his ender chest, not giving anything else a look. The teen paused once more before closing the ender chest, turning back to ask another question. 

“Um, can I take my memory book? So I don’t forget anything?” The answer was as instantaneous as it was disappointing. 

“No, all your stuff should be put away and your inventory should be empty.” Ranboo frowned, ready to argue before pausing, shaking his head and putting the locker key away. There would be no point in arguing with this version of Sam; he wouldn’t get very far before being shut down. 

“There are books and pens in each cell,” Dream cut in, voice steady but holding amusement in them as he spoke. Ranboo found a shiver making its way down his back as he remembered the playful tone of the voice that had taunted him for so long, shaking as he was reminded of the accusations that it would throw at him. He knew he wasn’t being arrested for blowing up the Community House, at least, so he wasn’t too worried about it. It was probably something that would end up killing him slowly later. 

“I’m excited to see what you’ll come up with, Ranboo!” Dream exclaimed, shaking him a bit harshly with a hand wrapped around his upper arms as the teen was put back in chains. He nodded in agreement automatically, not wanting to piss off the powerful man before he had been shoved back into a small space under a dispenser, having to crouch slightly to fit in properly. 

It took a cloud of a Potion of Harming seeping into his lungs after he set his spawn for him to realize what was happening, choking and gagging with watering eyes as he crumbled before he succumbed to the effects of the potion and the destruction it caused along the way. Ranboo respawned a moment later in a different area nearby, faintly registering a nod of approval from Sam and getting tugged along harshly by hands that were anything but gentle. 

Everything around Ranboo was spinning at different intervals, leaving him more confused than anything. Images were getting turned into goop and voices were melding together in piles of static that felt the same way his limbs did when he sat on them for too long. It was just an uncomfortable numbing experience that had made him lose track of the twists and turns of the prison that he hadn’t realized he had in the first place. 

He hadn’t even begun to register the death from the Potion of Harming when they had apparently reached the last stage, unlocking the cuffs from his wrist as the teen had been led up and around into the back of the prison, vision blurry. Ranboo was just tired, the teen wanting nothing but sleep and a chance to figure out what was going on before he had been forced to set spawn again. 

Once he had, a stabbing white pain hitting him in the chest in a sudden jolt that he hadn’t anticipated. The teen let out a faint whine of pain before he collapsed to his knees in front of the two figures he could barely make out, clawing at his chest with sharpened nails before he had disappeared in a puff of curling smoke again, dropping down into a small pool of water that just barely fit him. 

Ranboo let out a screech at the feeling, scrambling out of it with wet calves as he scrambled away, nearly speeding right into the heat he could feel at his back. He was out of it, head swinging around as he tried to figure out what had happened in the last twenty minutes of just getting into his cell. The panic that he had never gotten used to coursed through his veins once more, scrambling back to press his back against the obsidian walls that surrounded him. 

It held a startling resemblance to his panic room, Ranboo had realized with a sinking heart as he came back to his regular mind after practically being shocked out of it. He looked back to the corner he had crawled out of and took a minute to look around at what he had properly, wincing almost immediately. 

He had a lectern, holding what looked like an empty book. There was a chest, which Ranboo assumed held the books that Dream said they had in almost every single cell. There was a single bit of glowstone in the corner that wasn’t lit up by the lava, working as a large barrier from the outside of the cell. Ranboo shivered at the sight, despite how much heat that the waterfall of lava provided. There was a small cauldron of water as well, which Ranboo assumed was there for him to drink. With a frown, he noticed there were no cups and realized he would be forced to practically dunk his head in not to dehydrate himself in the process. 

The one thing that the cell didn’t have was anywhere to sleep properly, which was a smart move by Sam, admittedly. If he were to sleep on a bed properly he could simply destroy it and get out as fast as he could before the man would notice to spawn in the regular chunks and get away as fast as possible, back to the tundra where he knew he was safe. At the same time, the obsidian was hard on his back despite the less-than-harsh touch that he had with it due to his Enderman nature. He wasn’t fully mob, however, so he hadn’t been able to sit on it comfortably and not feel like it was comfortable at all. 

Ranboo sighed, standing up and learning that his head was a few centimetres from the top of the roof. His crown would have probably scraped against the obsidian harshly, leaving scratches in the golden metal that he was attached to. It would sit on his fluffy hair all the time, which had been braided back in a similar way to Techno’s after a late afternoon with the man that he never wanted to undo. 

The teen found himself with burning eyes as he thought back to his crown, hoping that Phil would at least take care of it during his disappearance, not wanting the man to just forget he existed at all. He was pretty sure he left it in his house. Or on Techno’s bed. Or on his bookshelf, or- 

_ Fuck,  _ Ranboo thought, heart sinking.  _ Who would take care of his pets?  _

As far as Techno and Phil knew, he was still at his home, just never home at the same time they were out. He didn’t have his comm, so he wouldn’t have the chance to speak to anyone, and they didn’t even know that he had even been in prison at all. They didn’t know of the bullet he had taken for them, even though Ranboo didn’t want to feel like he was some sort of messiah for doing what he believed was the right move. 

The teen shook his head harshly, rubbing the heel of his hand at his eyes before turning back to the chest, finding rows of neatly stacked journals next to a large collection of black and blue pens. He immediately took one of them out, familiar leather texture coming under his thumb as he took out the pen and slid down the wall adjacent to the chest. 

_ Day one,  _ Ranboo wrote down, his handwriting neat as ever as he penned down the words. 

_ I got put in Pandora’s Vault today like I tried to make sure I would. Techno and Phil didn’t get in trouble, so I’m glad that they didn’t have to deal with it. I would feel guilty if they had to get in trouble so bad that they wouldn’t be able to leave, ever.  _

_ As long as I’m good, I’ll only be in the prison for eight months. Or less, but only if I’m good. I can be patient for as long as I need if it means that I’ll get to leave and still have Phil and Techno after. I hope they’ll remember to feed my pets.  _

_ I miss Enderchest and Enderpearl and Dogboo and Ranbun and my birds and my friends. Even if they don’t like me all that much.  _

Ranboo shut the book after, sitting in the cell and staring into the lava for a few minutes before looking away once more, limbs heavy as the mining fatigue finally set into his bones. He sighed slowly, closing his eyes and letting his head loll back and rest against the obsidian, hoodie pulled up. It would be a long eight months. 

* * *

Something that Ranboo hadn’t accounted for when introduced to obsidian walls that looked like the panic room and all the free time in the world was that the voice that he had dreaded hearing again would come and go at random when given such a large playing field of time to work with. 

Of course, the voice never went away in the first place. Ever since he had stepped foot in the prison he had heard it whispering, far-off from where he was in obsidian walls surrounded by a pool of lava before it had decided to show itself once more. 

Ranboo had been lying on the ground, looking up at the ceiling of his cell and tracing the cracks in the material as it flickered between dripping purple tears and smooth black that had been sanded down to the tee. The teen blinked, rubbing at his eyes before he shook his head, reminding himself that he was away from there and the voice wouldn’t follow him here, couldn’t follow him here. He was trapped but he was safe and he wouldn’t have to go back to the panic roo- 

** Hello, again.  **

Ranboo blinked, eyes staring into the black stone above him. “You followed me here?” The voice hummed, amused as it wore a perfect layer of Dream’s tone above it. 

** Well, you say that like I ever left.  **

Ranboo chuckled half-heartedly as he shook his head, eyes fluttering shut. “You know what I meant. You usually only ever show up in the panic room, why here?”

** It’s the perfect place for me to follow you, is it not? It’s similar enough to the panic room, you said so yourself. You’re the one who brought me here.  **

“I think I’d rather be lonely than listen to you again,” The teen huffed. The voice chuckled afterwards, making goosebumps creep up his arms. 

** You might change your mind in a bit. Solitude hurts people.  **

“I’ve been lonely all my life, what’s a few more months?” Ranboo murmured, lips tugging down into a frown.

** There’s a difference between feeling lonely and being alone,  ** the voice snapped, seemingly fed up with the pessimistic tone.  ** You’ve known loneliness, but you’ve never been alone.  **

“How would you know?” Ranboo glared at the ceiling, legs stretched out so he could relieve some stress on his limbs. “You’re just- just Dream, y’know? You don’t know me, you don’t know what I feel and- and what happened in my past. That’s… I wrote that down and hid it somewhere else. You wouldn’t know it.” 

** For someone who thinks I’m Dream, you haven’t been acting like it,  ** The voice hummed, almost sounding like it had been smiling.  ** You fear Dream more than you fear me. It’s a little funny, considering you’re stronger than him. You would have been, anyway, if you trained the same he did at a younger age. **

“But… But, no, no, that’s not true. Because if you’re not Dream, then who are you?” Ranboo refused to accept the answer. 

** I’m you. Every bad thing you’ve ever done is summed up into one voice who remembers everything you don’t.  **

“I haven’t done anything wrong, though. Nothing that I didn’t do by accident. It was Dream’s fault, he made me, I didn’t…” His voice trailed off as the voice interrupted, bouncing around his head in uncertainty. 

** You blew up the Community House, what do you mean? There’s no possible way you didn’t, you had the TNT and you left flint and steel in the chests to gather materials and then it was gone later. There was just an explosion. Who do you think did that? It certainly wasn’t one of the others.  **

Ranboo shook his head, sitting up and holding his head in his hands as he pressed his fingers into his temples. “No, no no no, I didn’t do any of that, you’re lying.” 

** How can I lie to you? I’m you. Unless you lie to yourself to save your feelings from the truth? It would have been a little funny, seeing you try and justify it if it wasn’t so sad.  **

Ranboo found himself at a loss for words, the sentence spinning around in his head as he shook his head, hitting the heel of his palm against his forehead as he shook his head rapidly. “No, I’m not a liar. I… That’s not true, I would lie and try to forget about it.” 

** See? If you can’t trust me, you can’t even trust  _ yourself. _ **

The teen flinched at the words, hands cupping over his ears as he ignored it, squeezing his eyes shut. “No, leave me alone, I don’t want to talk to you.” 

** You’ll grow to love me, Ranboo. We’ll have a long eight months ahead of us.  **

“Go  _ away! _ ” Ranboo shouted, claws digging into the back of his ears in an attempt to ignore the voice and distract himself in the same breath. It seemed to have worked for him, the voice seemingly disappearing from the room with a shuddering breath that Ranboo took in. His frame shook as he breathed out, the teen turning to the journals to write down once more. 

* * *

His third day was spent by himself, doodling in his book as he fought the mining fatigue that ate at his bones while he craved something of his own to eat. 

* * *

His fifth day was spent stretching out his limbs and making his arms and legs lose in comparison to their stiff states from earlier. Ranboo had been starting to cramp, realizing quickly how his muscles would practically rot away should he not allow himself to exercise now and then. It was something he needed to remember to do, even if it wasn’t enjoyable, being a teenager who didn’t want to exercise in the first place. 

There wasn’t much else to do, at the same time, and Ranboo was finding himself beginning to believe the voice when it had told him that he hadn’t felt true loneliness. It was true, in a sense, if he had thought back to his roots. 

Even when he had first been on the road, in between Hypixel Tournaments that he would spend most of his time, Ranboo had made friendships with people that he had fought with lightheartedly. Ranboo had always thought he was somewhat easy to talk to, even if he had a hard time striking up the conversation in the first place. The most he ever needed was a nudge before he would find himself back into a friendly conversation with someone who probably should have hated him by now. 

It was a skill of his, in a way. He didn’t like thinking of it that way, but his social skills had definitely gotten worse when he had come to this server after the time he had spent at Hypixel. Most of the norms he had learned there were foreign in L’manberg, and they weren’t very savvy when it came to hybrid's culture, so Ranboo had quickly learned to suppress his nature when it came to things of those sorts that he could avoid. He ignored the grass thing, he ignored the noises that would slip out when he was stressed and he would pretend that the teleporting was always because of Ender pearls. 

Even so, he hadn’t been alone. He had felt lonely, yes, but he still had people around him. He had Tubbo to talk to and Tommy to visit and Fundy to make scam shops and such with. He had warmed up rather quickly to the L’manberg citizens, despite his lack of knowledge when it came to their upbringing as a country and the politics they represented. He had just been thrown in the mix, honestly, and he had little knowledge of what went on behind the scenes despite being the one who recorded everything that had happened. 

Ranboo was not used to being alone all that much. He wished he had someone to talk to, or at least to ramble at so they would nod and hum now and then as a response rather than him thinking into empty air and getting nothing back from his echoing thoughts. It was annoying, and a little pitiful at the same time. 

The teen missed his friends, and he missed Techno and Phil, too. He hoped that the men had noticed he was missing by now, feeding his pets in his absence when he couldn’t. It had been the one thing that had been bothering Ranboo since he had left, more so than anything else probably could have. His pets were just about the only things that he could fully put his faith in, so he didn’t want to have to lose them to something stupid like forgetting to tell someone he was going to jail before he had been thrown into solitary confinement. 

He snorted a bit at the thought, a chuckle escaping him unbidden in his lips unbidden. Ranboo turned back to look up to the ceiling, hands resting over his chest with the fingers laced through each other. The teen sat up and got to his feet once again, looking at the clock on the wall and watching the hands tick by slowly, getting bored as he did so. 

There really was just nothing to do in prison except waste away and wait for his sentence to come to an end. The first week of thirty-four, by his calculations. He had taken a separate book to make tally marks of how many days would pass in the case that he would get confused about it. Ranboo wouldn’t want to forget how long he had been in there; he might have gone insane if he wouldn’t be able to measure how far he was from being able to leave the prison. 

The teen’s stomach grumbled once more, and he frowned as he sat back down. Stupid hunger pains. 

* * *

The first time he had been visited had been after what he assumed had been at least a week since he had been thrown into the jail. Ranboo had figured it out after he had been given automatic food. Every couple of days, a raw potato would drop down from the same place he did the first time he respawned, landing in the water as a way to clean it before he had taken it out, slightly wet. 

Raw potatoes were terrible, Ranboo had deduced. They were slightly damp and cold on the inside and hard to bite through, despite the sharp canines he had that would assist him in his goal. It had hurt his teeth a bit, which was fair enough. He was built for golden foods and meat, not plain vegetables that would leave him weak and vulnerable. It was obviously a deliberate choice by Sam, but it still bothered him. 

Ranboo had been taking notes throughout the time of his stay in the week so far, writing down what he could remember from the original memory book as fast as he could. He had gotten down nearly everything, but there were paragraphs of confusing feelings that he had written down before that he couldn’t remember now. All he remembered was that they were negative and almost always wrong. The teen didn’t care too much for them, but there was a familiar anxious feeling that came with knowing that he was missing out on parts of his memory. 

When he first noticed the lava coming down, slowly but surely, Ranboo looked up with wide eyes, seeing someone on the other side of the large wall that had previously been covering it up. It took him a moment to realize that it was Dream standing, waiting on the other side. The teen’s eyes widened more, almost impossibly as he scrambled to put the journal away, hiding it in the middle of the pile as the man waited for the lava to sink down for him to come over. 

It was this process that gave Ranboo a chance to see the scale of the cell he was in, gulping as he saw how much lava was surrounding him in the small obsidian box. If the man really wanted to, he could just drown the teen in the magma three times over and be rid of him forever, save for the fact that he was pretty sure Dream wanted something to keep him entertained. 

As the man had made his way over on a moving bridge that smoothed over the lava bubbling beneath his feet, Ranboo took notice of the Netherite barrier that had been put up between the two. Dream seemed to have noticed as well, stepping off the platform and typing something into the comm he had on his arm. After a few minutes of foreboding silence, the Netherite came down before the lava had risen up again. 

Ranboo nearly yelped as the man grabbed him by the forearms, cuffing his wrists once more and tugging the teen forward and closer to the lava. He scrambled back for a moment, protesting rapidly. 

“Woah, wait wait wait, one minute, what- what’s happening? What are you doing?” Dream paused in his movements, turning back to Ranboo with a slow stare through his porcelain mask that radiated so much rage that he almost wanted to crumble where he was. Ranboo was regretting what he was staying a thousandfold, wanting to take back the words before he was interrupted by the man. 

“Punishment,” Dream said simply, laughing a bit at the shocked expression that fell upon the teen’s face. “What, you thought you could get away with blowing up Purpled’s UFO by lazing around in a cell? Of course, not, Ranboo, don’t be silly. You need to pay back equally for your actions, and I know how you can.” 

Ranboo’s limbs nearly locked with fear as the man pulled him onto the platform before being taken back over the large pool of lava, terrified of moving in the case that he would fall into the bubbling magma. It was terrifying for him to even look down, but Dream’s promise of punishment made him want to jump in just in the hopes that he wouldn’t be forced to face the hurt that the man would inflict on him. 

In the end, he was too much of a coward to do anything and had stumbled behind Dream with mostly-numb feet and shaking limbs. The man seemed annoyed at this point, twisting and turning through the prison until Ranboo couldn’t keep track of it anymore. Finally, Dream stopped by a wooden door that looked nothing like the rest of the layout. He opened it with a metal key and opened the door, pushing Ranboo in roughly before following after the teen. The lights flicked on as Ranboo’s eyes adapted to the lighting and leaving the room a faint yellowy-orange colour. Dream turned back to him as Ranboo examined the large room, hands still cuffed in front of him. 

The room was fairly large, bigger than his cell. There was a large post in the middle, made of what looked like incredibly old wood. There were two buckets next to it, both going up to at least waist-level and sealed off with plastic lids. It was rundown compared to the rest, almost as though Sam hadn’t known about the stone room that had been carved out in his prison. 

Ranboo flinched as Dream unlocked his cuffs, pulling him by the wrist to the post. The teen instinctively squirmed back before stopping once the mask swivelled around to face him with what looked like murder on the brain. With little fight coming from the teen, one wrist was bound to the wooden post on one side and the other being hung up as well. The thin, plastic rope dug into his wrists harshly, cutting through his skin at harsh movements. 

“Well, Ranboo,” Dream said from behind him, making the teen tense up automatically. His feet barely brushed over the ground, making him feel anxious as he wasn’t grounded. The teen hummed shakily in response as Dream walked slowly around him. The man came to face the teen and look him in the eyes, one hand absently coming up to pat his side. Ranboo recoiled from the touch, feeling like a hot knife to his skin at the slightest touch. 

Dream didn’t look too happy with the action, but he didn’t bother moving too far from where he was. The man laid a hand on his shoulder instead, a hand coming up to cup the teen’s chin harshly. He winced a bit, tilting his head away from the man as he forced Ranboo to make eye contact with the dots on his mask. 

“Would you like a gag or no gag?” Dream asked, head tipping to the side carefully. Ranboo blinked, confused as he twisted his hands in the bonds that held him up. 

“What- what do you mean?” He asked, voice shaky. Dream tightened his grip on his chin, voice turning to a low hiss as he spoke. 

“I didn’t give you permission to speak. Now tell me. Gag or no gag.” Ranboo gulped, breathing in deeply as adrenaline made him feel like throwing up before answering. 

“N...No gag…?” He said, unsure as he said so. Dream looked at him for a few extra minutes before nodding in approval, stepping away from him and releasing Ranboo’s sore jaw. 

“Good. Keep what I said in mind.” Ranboo unconsciously added the rule to a small list on his head, making sure to remember it. In reality, he was quivering in anticipation of what would happen, fear reeking from him as his hoodie’s sleeve fell down his arms and bunched at his elbows. 

The first jolt of pain hit his back like a whip, the sound cracking afterwards as Ranboo jerked forward. He let out a horrible screech of pain as his hands curled into fists, claws biting into the skin of his palm as he shook under the pain of the first lash. Whatever he had whipped him with had gone through his hoodie, cutting into skin harshly with what felt like something wet and damp. It left the wound burning even worse in the aftermath. 

“Dipped in salt and water,” Dream answered evenly, as though he knew what the teen had been thinking. Ranboo didn’t answer, holding back a cry of pain as he forced back tears. He would make Techno proud, at least. He wouldn’t break at the first hit, he was stronger than that. 

At the second lashing, he knew he couldn’t keep that promise, his body tensing at the hit and another scream being drawn out of him, twisting in his bonds in an attempt to get away from what he knew was inescapable pain. Ranboo shifted in the grips of the thin, cutting rope, feeling the blood trickle down his arms and down the sleeves of the hoodie as the back of the one he was wearing now became torn to shreds as Dream continued. 

Ranboo wouldn’t stop screaming, physically couldn’t as tears dripped down his cheeks and left burn marks on his face that he couldn’t wipe away if he tried. He felt disgusting as he sniffed to stop his nose from dripping but failed, the blood that trickled down his back soaking his hoodie and leaving it uncomfortably damp against his skin while the hybrid choked on silent sobs. 

Dream didn’t show much sign of slowing after ten but eventually paused at the twenty-mark, throwing his weapon to the side as Ranboo shook violently, trembling nonstop from head to toe on the post. The man untied his wrists from the wooden bits, catching the teen before he slumped to the ground completely. One arm was wrapped firmly around his lower back as Dream assisted him back to his cell, the pain white-hot and blinding in the spot as Ranboo struggled to breathe through the agony that left him with silent screams still fighting their way out of him while being walked back to his cell with Dream’s help. 

The man dumped him on the obsidian of his cell unceremoniously, making him cry out again as his back thumped against the warm stone harshly. Ranboo curled up on his side, his back to the lava as the strips of his hoodie that remained on the back did little to hide the red bleeding welts that had been left behind in the wake of Dream’s punishment. Ranboo whimpered a bit as he curled up a bit more where he sat, terrified to move even a single inch out of his position in case he fuck up his back more. 

He wanted to go home, he wanted to go home, he wanted to go  _ home.  _

* * *

Ranboo hadn’t realized that he had passed out until he had come back around to consciousness, waking up lying on his stomach as his back felt uncomfortably rigid. The teen sat up slowly, wincing as he did so. He didn’t know how long it had been since Dream had let out his rage on him, nor did he think he would find out, either. There were no new raw potatoes to base the time off on, but that wasn’t the problem at the moment. 

The room smelt terrible, reeking of iron and blood and bile that Ranboo hadn’t remembered leaving in the corner of his cell. The teen didn’t remember much, but this was definitely one of the things that he was glad he had forgotten. The details were evading him, coming up foggy in his memory as he looked around with just his head, not wanting to move his body more than he had to. 

The teen slowly raised his arms where he was sitting, crying out as the back of his sweater had pulled bits of skin that had attached to it with it. Ranboo let his arms drop, taking a deep breath as he rubbed at his eyes with one hand and bracing himself. If he didn’t move it now, it’d be worse later. He needed to fix it or it would be worse and then he wouldn’t be able to fix it at all and his back would be ruined forever until he respawned but even then the scars would be left. 

He lifted both his arms up and ripped the hoodie off of him, crying out loudly as it felt like it ripped the skin off of his back along with it. Ranboo shivered in pain, the heat doing little to get rid of the cold feeling that washed over him as he took off the hoodie. Ranboo kicked the disgusting hoodie into the corner with his bile in an attempt to contain everything in a pile where it would be somewhat organized. 

Ranboo shook and his teeth chattered violently as he sat hugging himself with bare arms, torso cold as he tried to ignore the feeling of cold blood slowly beading its way down his back in rivulets. He didn’t want to see the wounds, didn’t want to think about it. He needed a new shirt for later, or bandages, or something. Ranboo tried to figure out a list of things that he needed to fix what he was working on now, giving up not thirty seconds in when the pain made him gasp aloud and choke back a sob. 

The teen shoved his front two knuckles into his mouth, one hand curling over his stomach as he bit his claws into the boney end of his hand. Ranboo shook as he did so, shaking his head as though he was disagreeing with someone. In reality, it was just relaxing to repeat, despite the mild aggravation it was causing his wounds. 

In the end, it took Ranboo five more minutes to crumble before he stumbled to his feet, agonizingly slow as he made his way to the lava and clicked at a button that would connect to the Warden’s own comm. Ranboo leaned against the wall heavily, sliding down the side as he stared into the lava with wide eyes. 

“ _ Yes _ ?” Came Sam’s voice, cold as ever. Nothing like Ranboo remembered. 

“I need-” He hiccuped through a cry, voice sounding all-too-teary for his sake. “I need a new shirt. Please.” 

Sam’s voice paused at the other end before an answer came to the quiet words he had forced out of his lips. “On a scale of on to ten, how vital is this?” 

“Ten,” Came the immediate answer, voice strained. The silence that followed after felt eons long before Sam hummed a confirmation and it clicked off, Ranboo sobbing in relief as he stopped holding back the lump in his throat. The teen couldn’t bring himself to move from where he sat, one hand holding up his body as he sat on his knees, keeled over on himself as he tried to curl in as close as possible. His limbs were gathered into a deft pile that couldn’t fit his 6’7 stature. 

He didn’t even turn as he heard the lava lake that encased his cell lower, the loud piston bridge clicking as it made its way over to the edge of the cell. Ranboo heard the Netherite wall click as it made its way upwards before it was shifted back down. 

Ranboo heard Sam suck in a small breath before he heard the man get closer, the teen flinching away from the noise. Sam’s hands ghosted over his back, the man moving to crouch down in front of him. 

“Ranboo, who even-” Sam cut himself off a moment later, coming to the quick realization on the only other person who could have possibly accessed the large prison. Ranboo chuckled breathlessly, nodding slowly. 

“Yeah,” He breathed out, shaking arms crumpling as he ended up with his forearms pressed against the obsidian. Sam set down a shirt in front of Ranboo, hesitating to leave as the teen felt him staring down at him. He watched Ranboo sit up, taking the shirt and putting it on over the bloody wounds, not cleaning them as he threw them on. 

“The regen will fix them soon,” Sam said, Ranboo nodding along. 

“Yeah,” He repeated blankly, shifting to sit cross-legged before dragging himself over to the chest of journals in the corner, back turned to the lava. Ranboo opened the closest book, being reminded of something the moment he did and whipping his head behind to call after Sam. 

“Sam?” Ranboo called, the man turning back after the Netherite wall was put back up. Ranboo gulped once, throat dry and voice rough as he spoke. 

“Will- Has anyone asked to come? Or made plans to?” The face behind his mask revealed nothing, the man too silent for too long before his voice floated into the obsidian box quietly. 

“I’ll come back in a week or so, Ranboo.” 

The sentence was the nail in the coffin that was his heart and Ranboo could feel it wilt in his chest as lava poured back down over the cell, cutting him off from the real world once more. 

* * *

** You know, I think they might have figured out you destroyed the Community House by now.  **

Ranboo scoffed, scribbling doodles into his book with a chronically shaky hand as the voice perked back up in his head after an hour of silence. “You’ve said that already, I think you’ll need to find new material.” 

** It’s not like I’m making this up, you know. I’m you. If anything, you’re berating me for not doing more crime yourself. Not that you would remember it if you did.  **

“You could say that,” Ranboo mumbled, tipping his head as his wrapped-up hand brushed away at non-existent pencil eraser shavings. A bunny stared back at him from the pages of his drawing journal, this one being his favourite at the moment. 

Ranboo wasn’t really sure how long it had been since he had been put in the vault, nor did he remember how he had gotten his injuries. It would have been easier to remember if he had the chance to write down who had done what before he had passed out, but he always woke up with a foggy mind and sluggishly bleeding wounds. 

He could only assume it was Dream from how adrenaline built up in his chest almost every time the man was so much as mentioned. That and how uncomfortable the voice in his head had made him. Nightmares had become a recent development as well, one that only proved to make his stay worse in the cells as well. The constant jostling of his wounds made it harder for Regen from the beacons to help out with his health, especially when it was paired with the hybrid issues mixing into the magic that came with it. 

There was the splintering issue of his mind, as well, and how his solitude was beginning to tear him apart. There were growing gaps in his memory that were left up to the imagination, filled in with sparse daydreams that only ever brought him pain. He remembered burning and water and a wet cloth slapped over his face, but he also remembered demons chasing him and eating the skin between his ribs and wrapping his intestines around his arms.

The delusions that ended up filling his mind made him want to die more than often, though he had always cowered away from the lava when he had the urge to go into the abyss and leave behind the world he knew already. He was always terrified at heart, his moral backbone weak and the want to do things for his own weaker. Ranboo didn’t think he could deal with the knowledge that he was slowly going insane and no one had even wanted to see him. 

That and how he had begun scratching at the walls in his spare time, nails growing blunt after about two days and growing back into sharp weapons after about ten minutes. He had let himself be entertained by scratching his arms and letting little rivulets of blood drip down his arms rather than write for a bit, though the numbness that pinpricked his limbs bored him quickly. 

Recently, though, the voice had been changing, showing a new development, despite its constant speaking in his head. It had been shifting into something else, almost something akin to Techno’s low monotone. It was something comforting that he had missed, though Ranboo wasn’t sure why the voice was changing now. Maybe his guilty conscience wanted to make him feel worse by pretending to be people he loved. 

It backfired a little, considering that he knew Techno and Phil didn’t care that he blew up the Community House at all. They had brushed it off and told him they didn’t care, taking most of Ranboo’s nerves with him in the process. He missed the pair of them, even if they hadn’t known he was there in the first place. Ranboo only hoped they had fed his pets. He wanted to give Ranbun a hug when he got home, and never let go of Enderchest or Enderpearl the moment he saw them. 

** -It’s a shame that you have to sit in here, driving yourself insane without anyone to come and visit.  **

Ranboo blinked as he zoned back into the conversation, his memory of the past hour or so disappearing quickly. He shook his head, rubbing at his face with the heel of his palm. “Oh, just shut up.” 

** You would hate that.  **

“I would, I would,” Ranboo agreed automatically, ignoring a pang of hunger that rippled through him. He hadn’t figured out when the last time he had been fed, and he didn’t think it was the usual time, either. It was hard to be consistent about anything in a little obsidian box by himself. He had quickly given up on his tally mark book, making it to three and a half weeks before he had given up on it completely. That had been what felt like ages ago, there was no way he would be able to figure out where he was now. 

His lips had cracked and bloodied out of dehydration, his previously black shirt being stained harshly with blood and water and tears that left it constantly damp. He had developed something of a chronic shake in his hands, leaving his handwriting barely legible and leaving the teen teetering on the edge of panic almost every time he had tried to read back something with tears blurring his vision. 

Ranboo’s ears had torn at the tips as well, thin skin scarring with a cut amid them in an ugly way that made him hate himself a bit more. The scars that dotted his body left him aching almost all the time, but Ranboo had wasted a lot of time being sad about everything that had happened. He couldn’t wait any longer and sit in a pool of his own suffering. Mining fatigue may have been weighing down his limbs, but he forced himself to write no matter what, knowing that if he didn’t, he would end up losing his mind completely. 

The sound of the small speaker in his cell clicked open once, Ranboo’s head lolling to move towards it as an ear perked up to listen to the voice that would come out of it. 

“Someone’s come to visit you today,” Sam’s voice filtered into the room, Ranboo sitting up straight as a bolt the moment the words registered. 

“No bullshit?” He asked, voice coming out more desperately than he thought it would have. 

“He’ll be here shortly. Tommy and Tubbo are waiting at the front right now. Don’t try and leave, you won’t get very far.” Ranboo snorted weakly, a dry cough echoing in the cell as he giggled a bit. The words hadn’t set in, the teen sitting back and moving back to lie on the ground, staring up at the ceiling as he repeated the words in his head over and over. Tommy and Tubbo, Tommy and Tubbo. They were going to visit him, they were going to come to see him. They probably had been able to the whole time he had been in there, slowly going insane in a little obsidian box while Dream did god knows what to him. While he was starving and dying and going insane with his skin being torn to shreds. 

It made him want to laugh, so he did. And then laughing made him want to cry, so he did. The tears burnt his cheeks and he wiped at them absently with the back of his hand as the lava slowly came down from where it usually covered the cell doors. 

He let his head turn to the side from where he was laying down, eyes wandering as he followed the two figures that stood on the opposite side of the lava lake. Seeing them made him want to laugh again, but he didn’t want to crack his lips further, nor did he want to cry, so he ignored the urge as the piston bridge made its way across the lake. 

The familiar Netherite barrier popped up, Tommy and Tubbo’s murmuring making its way in one ear and out the other. He could hear Sam’s familiar voice through the intercom before the lava began flowing down again and the Netherite blocks shifted down once more. 

It was silent in the room, the teen not wanting to be the first to speak. They might have been his first visitors, but his exhaustion was bone-deep and Ranboo would have preferred sleep to the adrenaline that raced through his veins and made him want to throw up in the corner closest to the lava. 

“R… Ranboo?” Tubbo’s hesitant voice came. The teen hummed in response, raising his arms to rub at his eyes slowly. He sat up, hand shaking as he pushed himself up and gulped, struggling to do so with saliva building up in the back of his throat. 

“Hey, Tubbo.” Ranboo’s voice was crackly, and Tubbo flinched at the sound. Tommy was unusually quiet as he stood near the lava, seemingly taking in the state of the cell. It looked like he was avoiding eye contact with him at all costs. 

“How’ve you been, man? L’manberg’s been, uh… Yeah. You know.” Ranboo hmmed, one shaking hand coming up to rub at his grimey face. When there was no response, Tubbo continued, rambling slightly. 

“I’ve been in Snowchester, with Jack Manifold and this new guy, his name is Foolish! I dunno if you remember it, I just, um… I’ve been feeling, like. Bad. About this whole thing, I should’ve, I dunno. Backed you up when the whole thing was happening, not just ignored it and pretended everything was fine.” Tubbo swallowed back a lump in his throat, Ranboo’s eyes listless following his movements. 

“But, um, we’re fighting Dream. Tomorrow, and, um… I’m not gonna lie, Ranboo, I dunno if it’s gonna work out. So, I just… wanted to say goodbye. And just say that I’m really glad I got the chance to be your friend. I just… I’m sorry.” 

It was silent in the cell for a long few minutes, Ranboo blinking lethargically as he stared at him. Tommy seemed to get fed up, snapping as Tubbo’s eyes filled with tears. 

“Bit rude, just ignoring someone who’s told you they’re gonna die in a couple of hours.” Ranboo snorted weakly, ignoring the look he got from Tommy and Tubbo. The snort devolved into a fit of laughter, though it sounded nothing like it. It was a disgusting cackle that was more air than it was sound. His throat protested as he lost his breath, inhaling deeply and exhaling a shuddering breath as he pressed his face into his hands. 

“Bit rude,” Ranboo repeated mockingly. “Ignoring someone who’s been in solitary confinement for the past… I don’t even fucking know how long it’s been.” 

Tubbo flinched back and Tommy’s expression changed, Ranboo blinking hard as he rubbed the back of his hand against his teary eyes. “Do either of you know? Please tell me you know.” 

“...Two and a half months now, I think,” Tubbo admitted, Ranboo laughing at the answer before his throat spasmed, coughing hard and long until he felt like retching. Tommy looked uncomfortable with him, but Ranboo didn’t care that much. 

“I think I,” Ranboo paused, wetting his cracked lips. “I don’t… It’s been a while since I spoke to someone that wasn’t… Wasn’t Sam. And I-” 

Ranboo wiped his face with both hands, intertwining them in front of his face afterwards, trembling non-stop the way they had since he had faintly remembered a tub of water and burning heat and iron brands. 

“I want to be your friend. But. I’m so angry and I don’t know if I don’t want to be,” He forced out, Tubbo frowned at the words, moving to sit down as Tommy followed, the three of them making a wide circle as the Ender hybrid spoke slowly with a gravelly voice. 

“I’ve just… Been weird. Not me, but. Here. Is weird, I dunno. I don’t like being alone. And I… fuck, I dunno. My memory’s been weird, I can’t remember most of the stuff. And all I get is fucking- fucking raw potatoes for food, they taste so bad and they're terrible for my teeth. It sucks, I hate being here and I hate everyone for never visiting even though Sam said it was okay. I hate it.” 

The silence that followed was quiet and tense, Ranboo’s shoulders slumping as he let out another shuddering breath, shaking his whole body and his thin frame. 

“I’m really sorry, Ranboo. I dunno how I can- what can I do to fix it?” Tubbo pleaded, Tommy cutting in after. 

“We really should’ve visited, man, I’m sorry. That’s… there’s no excuse for that, as much as I wished I could make one up. But it was just an oversight on our part.” Ranboo nodded slowly, uncurling his shaking hands to reach them out to the two of them. Tubbo took his right and Tommy his left, the thin fingers being interlaced with their warm ones. The touch was hot on his skin but he didn’t want to pull away, even if tears were starting to build up in his eyes. 

“Have you said anything to Techno or Phil yet?” Ranboo asked, voice raspy. Tommy shook his head, thumb rubbing circles into Ranboo’s skin. 

“Not yet. I will soon, though, without Tubbo.” Ranboo nodded, eyes sore as he felt the urge to fall over and go to sleep. God, he was so tired. 

“Do me a favour. To make up for Tubbo, or whatever.” Tommy nodded, Ranboo breathing in before speaking again. “Can you ask them to make sure my pets are okay? And tell them I miss them?” 

Tommy looked confused at the words, Tubbo as well. 

“You’ve been staying with them?” Tubbo asked, voice curious. 

“Was,” Ranboo corrected weakly. The pair of them winced and Tommy nodded, squeezing his hand gently. 

“I can do that for you, yeah? I’m sorry about this, Ranboo. If we win tomorrow I’ll make sure that we get you out of here. Dream can’t just- just throw you in here for no reason.” Ranboo hummed, vision spinning as he focused on the lava behind them. 

“Do either of you remember why I was here, by the way? I don’t remember what I did.” The frown on Tubbo’s face deepened, a hand coming up to wipe at the brown-haired teen’s eyes and rub them dry. 

“For, uh, almost burning down Purpled’s old UFO, I think. Even though he left.” Ranboo hummed, nodding quietly. 

“Oh,” He said softly, eyes shifting to the ground as the group lapsed into silence again. Ranboo just took in the euphoria that came with knowing that someone had been in his proximity and he wasn’t alone for the first time in… in some time. He didn’t remember how long. 

“How-” Ranboo cut himself off again, sniffing quietly as his voice shook. “How long have I been here again?” His voice broke on the last word as Tubbo leaned forward slowly to wipe his tears with the free sleeve he had. 

“Two and a half months,” Tubbo whispered, sounding tearful. “I’m sorry.” 

Ranboo wished he could force himself to say that he was sorry, too. 

* * *

Tommy and Tubbo were going to fail and he was never going to be free. 

It was the only sentence that had been circling around his head nonstop, the teen trapped in his mind as it unravelled further and further. The whole time he had been in the prison, he only had one thing to look forward to. All Ranboo ever wanted was to wait the eight months and leave, but the hope that had come with Tommy and Tubbo’s announcement was making him want to die more, becoming his downfall. 

Everything was spinning and cold. Cold and frigid and freezing his limbs as his hands still shook, bandages slipping off of the wounds. Ranboo’s eyes were just barely cracked open, back to the lava and glowstone light finally flickering from where it was placed beforehand. The raw potatoes he had left abandoned were filling his nose with a disgusting smell he hated. 

The teen whined lowly, curling up in on himself as flashes of punishments from Dream filled his head, Ranboo shaking his head as he pulled his knees into his chest, one hand wrapping around his own ankle to keep himself folded up as small as possible. 

Flashes of electrocution, of water and burning and irons and whipping, vague recollections of hands that would wander across the span of his skin, never leaving marks but leaving him feeling as though he had been burned thousand times over. He remembered fingers curling into his hair as his face was dunked into water, his chest being cut into, just memory after memory of everything Dream put him through before he had disappeared on him in the last two or so weeks. 

Ranboo wanted to die. He wanted to die, he wanted to die and never come back. He never wanted to be touched again and his limbs burned and he would rather die alone than try to fight to get out of the little obsidian box he had declared home. 

It had never been home, it was always a prison. The voice had tried to trick him, Dream had tried to trick him. The journals he collected had tricked him into thinking that he was safe but he knew that he wasn’t, not at all. He was wasting away on the inside and it was finally coming crashing down on him as tears made their way down his cheeks once more. 

He hiccuped, ignoring all outside sounds as he continued to cry, ignoring the voice that didn’t show up and kicking his journals into the lava, watching them burn with bleary eyes before realizing what a mistake it was. 

Ranboo hadn’t even realized that the lava had been coming down again, nor did he notice how there was a group of people escorting someone else there. He did his best to swallow back his cries but failed, the Ender hybrid in him tinting them with the Voidspeaks familiar accent, sounding similar to Endermen that he hadn’t seen in a long while. The sound of the piston bridge didn’t register, nor did the arguing that came with it before Ranboo felt a hand on his shoulder. 

He shrieked, kicking away from the hand with fervour, back hitting the wall with a harsh thud that made his back wound flare up, sending white-hot pain up his back. Ranboo felt someone crouch down in front of him, shaking his head rapidly as his breath came in short pants. 

A familiar voice made an attempt to make it through his panic, repeating the same words again and again as Ranboo tried to catch his breath. The person hadn’t been touching him, nor did he come to close, and the teen’s eyes became less blurry as he looked up at the man crouching ahead of him. 

Pink hair pulled back into a small, familiar pony behind a mask-wearing a red cape with off-white fur. 

Ranboo’s eyes widened, practically frozen as he watched Techno’s mouth move, not hearing anything that came out of it. He barely registered people near the front by the edge of the lava lake that surrounded the cell.

The teen threw himself forward, arms wrapping around the man’s shoulders as he sobbed into the fluffy ends of his cape. Ranboo didn’t notice the man stiffening before relaxing, only crying out in relief as arms wrapped around him, lifting him up. 

The warmth of the arms around him was enough to make him lose his mind completely, shaking violently against the man’s body as he finally got the comfort he craved all throughout the two months of practical torture he had been wanting. The teen scrambled to be as close as possible to him as Techno slowly got up, walking back to the piston bridge as he skirted around the group. 

“I- I was, I can’t- I can’t, I  _ didn’t _ -” Ranboo gasped out, Techno shushing him gently as he cradled the back of his head with a large hand. 

“It’s okay,” Techno said, voice low as he made his way through the prison with the softest hold on the teen despite the anger that burned in his veins. “It’s okay, we’re here now. I’m sorry, Phil and I are sorry.” 

Ranboo’s cries grew softer and quieter, turning into staggered snuffling as the man had made his way outside, ignoring the group that had gathered around the front of the prison in anticipation who had been surprised by the teen that Techno had come out of the prison with. 

All that mattered was getting Ranboo home now, Techno thought. 

**Author's Note:**

> this was such a monster fic i binge wrote it over the past two days. thank u for reading if u got this far
> 
> i know this is in a series, but im unsure on if ill make a follow up. if i did make a follow up, what do u think it should be centered around? 
> 
> tell me what u think, btw! i appreciate comments a lot and i love reading the long ones. the next week is the last week of school so thats all i have to deal with before i can just get back to answering allll of them because i tried the other day and they all came back again LOL 
> 
> any thoughts on ranboo? anything i did wrong? stuff u mightve liked? pleas feedbak. thank u :) 
> 
> <3 stay safe and happy glad u read this


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